Incubator.



' E. J. MUGLANAHAN.

INGUBATOB.

APPLIQATION FILED SEPT. 20, 1909. Y 998,790. Patented July 25, 1911.

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E. J. MCCLANAHAN- INGUBATOR.

APPLICATION FILED saw. 20, 1909.

998,790. 1 Patented July 25, 1911.

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EDWARD J'. MCCLANAHAN, OF EUGENE, OREGON.

INCUBATOR.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed September 20, 1909.

Patented July 25, 1911.

Serial No. 518.514.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD J. MGGLANA- HAN, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Eugene, in the county of Lane and State of Oregon,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Incubators, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention relates to incubators and brooders, and the object of theinvention is to provide an incubator and brooder in which the incubatoris provided with a plurality of trays for holding eggs and smallchickens, and the front of the incubator casing is formed with aplurality of doors, one for each of the trays, permitting the removal ofthe entire tray corresponding to that door, without disturbing theremainder of the trays, while one of the main doors in the front of theincubator is provided with an auxiliary door so located as to permit theinspection and removal of eggs which are nearly hatched or which arelikely to be hatched at any minute.

Further objects of my invention deal with the provision of a heatingmeans for an incubator casing, as before described, of a very simple andconvenient character.

For a full understanding of the invention and the merits thereof, and toacquire a knowledge of the details of construction, reference is to behad to the following description and accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a front view of the incubator casing; Fig. 2 is a sectionthereof, in a plane at right angles to the front of the casing; Fig. 3is a detail vertical section of the heater for the casing, and thecirculation pipes; and, Fig. 4 is a plan view of said heater and thecirculation pipes, the casing being shown in section.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the followingdescription and indicated in all the views of the drawing by the samereference characters.

Referring to these drawings, 2 designates an incubator casing,rectangular in plan and entirely inclosed. This casing is made of woodor any other suitable material and is supported in any desired manner.The side walls of the casing, on the inner faces, are provided with theopposed oppositely disposed longitudinal rails 3 and 4:, upon which theegg trays and chicken trays are to be supported, the rails 3 beinglocated at the bottom of the incubator and against the side wallsthereof so that the upper faces of the rails 8 are above the bottom ofthe incubator, the rails 4 being so disposed that the upper faces of therails aline with the lower edge of a door 12 which is provided for theremoval of the uppermost tray.

The egg tray is designated by the numeral 5 and is preferably theuppermost tray, while resting upon the strip 3 is the tray 6 forcontaining chicks only lately out of their shells. The trays 5 and 6each consists of a rectangular marginal frame designated respectively as7 and 8, and bottom plates 9 and 10, the bottom plate 9 which supportsthe eggs which are being incubated, being of relatively thin material.Supported above the egg tray 5 and preferably upon the egg tray, is thetray 11 which I term a nursery tray. Upon this last named tray areplaced the eggs which are nearly hatched.

It will be seen that the lowermost tray 6 is supported above the floorof the incubator and that inasmuch as this tray is less in length thanthe depth of the incubator, a space is left around the tray and beneaththe door thereof for the circulation of heated air. The tray 5 is, ofcourse, supported on the strips 4 and hence there is ample room for thecirculation of air above and beneath the tray 5. It is, of course,necessary that the air shall circulate beneath the bottoms of the traysas well as over the top of the trays.

The upper portion of the front of the easing is closed by a door 12which, as seen in Fig. 1, has a length equal to the width of the tray 5,so that the tray 5 may be inserted or Withdrawn through the opening forthe door 12. The door is hinged at its upper edge by hinges 12 and isheld closed by buttons 14. Formed in the center of the door 12 is theauxiliary door 15 which is hinged at its lower edge to the door 12 byhinges 15 and closes into an opening cut out of this door. The innerside of this opening is preferably closed by a pane of glass 16, seen inFig. 2. The door 15 is held closed in any desired manner. Upon openingthe door 15, the contents of the tray 11 may be readily observed throughthe glass 16, and it may thus be seen whether any of the eggs placedupon the tray 11 are hatching, and this without allowing the escape ofthe warm air in the upper portion of the incubator, or any change intemperature therein. The doors 12, 15 and 17 are provided with handles12 15 and 17 whereby the doors may be manipulated.

The lower portion of the incubator has hinged upon it the door 17 whichhas a length equal to the width of the tray 6, and is for the purpose ofinserting or removing said tray. The door 17 like the door 12 is hingedat its lower edge by hinges 17% The hinging of the doors at their loweredges is important as it permits the doors to be opened slightly and thecontents of the egg trays to be observed without the necessity ofopening the doors full width and without shutting off the light whichwould occur were the doors hinged at their upper edges and even when thedoors were opened to their full extent. It will be seen that by hingingthe doors at their lower edges, the doors may be opened slightly and theobserver looking in through the relatively small opening thus formed,will look down upon the egg trays and that light will be directed downupon the eggs in the trays. The egg trays are both so located that thebottoms of the trays are below the lower edges of the doors and the eggtray 5 is so disposed that the tray 11 supported thereon is considerablybelow the upper edge of the door 12. Thus not only can the trays 5 and 6be observed, but the tray 11 can be placed under observation without thenecessity of opening the doors to their full extent and thus allowingthe escape of the warm air. It will be seen that this con-- struction ofthe incubator front is such as to permit the trays 5, 6 and 11 to behandled independently of each other, and also provides for a removal ofeither of the trays 5 or 6, or of the tray 11, with a minimumdisturbance of the temperature in the incubator. The auxiliary door alsopermits the contents of the tray 11 to be observed at any time, withoutchanging the temperature of the incubator or allowing an escape of air.As this observation has to be quite frequent when the eggs in thenursery tray are at the point of hatching, the convenience and necessityof the auxiliary door 15 and the glass 16 will be noted.

As a means of heating the incubator, 1 provide a heater 18 which mayhave any form, but as shown, is cylindrical. Formed in the centralportion of the heater and ex tending from the bottom thereof to the top,and opening at the bottom and top, is the cone-shaped passage 19, andmounted within this passage, but spaced therefrom, is the cone-shapedradiator 20 which is of course made of sheet metal and supported fromthe wall of the passage 19 by straps 21. Sup ported on a bracket beneaththe lower end of the radiator, is the lamp 22, whereby the contents ofthe heater is heated. The upper end of the heating chamber 18 isprovided with the filling opening 23, closed by a plug 24. A movable cap25 is also mounted above the upper end of the passage 19 so as to bemoved toward the mouth of the passage or away therefrom to increase ordecrease the draft, or to increase or decrease the rapidity with whichthe heat from the lamp will pass through the radiator and be distributedto the open air. Preferably, this cap 25 is located upon an operatinglever 26 which is adjustable by a rod 27. Ex tending into the incubatorcasing 2, from the upper end of the heating casing 18, is the dischargepipe 29 which merges into a circulating pipe 30. This circulating pipeis rectangular, as seen in Fig. 4, and is relatively enlarged indiameter. The pipe 3 extends entirely around the incubator casing,inwardly of the walls thereof and supported from the top of the casingin any suitable manner. A return pipe 31 extends downward from theextremity of the circulating pipe 30 and passes out through the wall ofthe incubator below the pipe 29, and extends into the lower end of theheating chamber 18. There is thus provided a means whereby a fluid suchas water may be readily heated to the required degree of temperature,circulated around the interior of the incubator, and then returned tothe heat ing chamber to be reheated.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is 1. In an incubator,an outer casing, the front of the casing being formed with an upper anda lower transversely extending door opening, doors each hinged at itslower edge and each fitting in its respective open ing so as to permitthe doors to be opened slightly for observation, latches engaging withthe upper edges of the doors to hold them closed, the upper doors beingformed with a transversely extending opening, a glass pane permanentlyclosing said opening, a door hinged in said opening and closing thesame, superposed trays slidingly mounted in the casing in alinement withthe doors, said trays being removable therethrough, and a removable traycarried upon the forward end of the uppermost tray less in depth thansaid tray and disposed in alinement with the opening in the uppernallyextending pairs of supporting rails disposed within the casing, one pairof rails being carried on the floor of the casing, but below the lowestdoor opening, the main pair being located on a level with the lower edgeof the upper door opening, a removable tray carried upon the lower pairof rails and sup ported thereby above the bottom of the floor and inalinement with the lowermost door, an upper tray carried upon the upperpair of rails in alinement with the uppermost door, and a nursery trayless in depth than the uppermost tray, but supported thereon inalinement with the inspection opening in the uppermost door.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

EDWARD J. MGGLANAHAN.

Witnesses:

S. S. SPENCER, A. F. ROBINSON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

